In the 2017 proposal by the Canadian Sealers Association to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to lift the licence freeze, there was no request for any criteria requiring an assistant sealer upgrading their licence to professional to also be a professional fish harvester as outlined in DFO’s announcement.

Non-fishermen sealers are just as important to the sealing industry as fishermen. We need our landsmen sealers, always have and always will, to work together and keep the industry afloat.

We will be contacting DFO over the coming weeks to work towards a resolution on this issue.